/m/cardinals

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So he's slacking off in situations where his team needs baserunners and he doesn't have a chance to pad his personal RBI stats? What a bum. Maybe he needs to spend some time with Pete Rose.

Agreed, I always wonder when people say stuff like "he performs well in this situation..." realize what the true implication of such a statement? I can see praising a guy who has no drop off in performance as being able to handle the situation, but praising him because he exceeds in those situations implies a lack of effort other times.(If his skin was not white....would they be treating him differently?---assuming that it is as noticeable at the plate as it is in the numbers.)

McGwire was my favorite player as a kid, so I find it a little strange that his time with the A's seems to have been completely wiped from memory. Obviously the Cards are the last team he played for and there's the lingering memory of the home run chase, but he spent much more time with the A's and did win a championship with them.

Also noticed, from looking over his BBRef page, he started five games at 3rd in 1987, which would have made him eligible for 3B in most fantasy leagues in 1988. Must have made for some interesting drafts.

McGwire was my favorite player as a kid, so I find it a little strange that his time with the A's seems to have been completely wiped from memory. Obviously the Cards are the last team he played for and there's the lingering memory of the home run chase, but he spent much more time with the A's and did win a championship with them.

Have perceptions really changed? I still think of him as an A first and foremost, but maybe I'm not typical.

Without having RTFA I assumed that McGwire was being asked about the Cards because he coached most of their hitters last year and arguably gets some credit for their success, more so than because he is now identified as a Cardinal.

Also noticed, from looking over his BBRef page, he started five games at 3rd in 1987, which would have made him eligible for 3B in most fantasy leagues in 1988. Must have made for some interesting drafts.

Even better for fantasy purposes was when McGwire was hurting. LaRussa got into the habit of listing him as the starting 2B, giving him one at-bat in the top of the first, and then replacing him before the Cardinals took the field. Which is why none of McGwire's "appearances" at second base show up on his BBRef page.

Post #34 from this BTF thread offers one example. A friend of mine played in a league where McGwire's 2B eligibility wasn't allowed only because the guy in charge unilaterally invoked the extralegal "aw, come ON" clause.

It'd be interesting to explore why certain hitters are so much better with men on or RISP, moreso than the average player. Obviously men on base add variables that the pitching/fielding team must then account for. A lesser player might benefit more from those changes than a more complete hitter.

Less cryptically, that kind of analysis always seems to miss the point of the question. Ballplayers aren't marbles on the roulette board. It seems much too easy to say Allen Craig is lucky.

The problem is that there isn't that many players who repeat the skill year to year... I think you can count on one hand the guys who do, and you pretty much start and finish with Ryan Howard and Adrian Gonzalez.